Doha

Doha rose out of the sand in a single generation, and the two versions of Qatar still sit side by side. On one hand, glass towers that light up over the bay at night, with seven kilometres of palm-lined waterfront at their feet. On the other, Souq Waqif, its plastered lanes, its dealers in spices and falcons, its cafés where the shisha runs late. The Museum of Islamic Art fills a block of pale stone on an island of its own, and its collection spans fourteen hundred years. The National Museum of Qatar looks like interlocking concrete discs, drawn from the shape of a desert rose. Katara Cultural Village lines up theatres, mosques and galleries along the shore, with a beach at the end of it. The food is Lebanese, Iranian and Indian as much as Qatari, and the grilled fish is very good. Before the gas, the country lived on pearl diving, and wooden dhows still lie at anchor along the corniche.